Brain communications最新文献

{"title":"Plasma troponin T reflects lower motor neuron involvement on electromyography in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.","authors":"Sanharib Chamoun, Sofia Imrell, Zane Upate, Ulf Kläppe, Linn Öijerstedt, Solmaz Yazdani, Mikael Andersson Franko, Juliette Foucher, Louisa Azizi, Anikó Lovik, Kristin Samuelsson, Rayomand Press, Fang Fang, Emma Svennberg, Alexander Juto, Caroline Ingre","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf177","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf177","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is elevated in neuromuscular conditions without apparent cardiac disease, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The reason for this increase is unclear. Since cTnT is found in both cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle cells, we aimed to investigate the latter as a possible cTnT source. We examined the correlation of cTnT in venous blood to lower motor neuron (LMN) involvement on Electromyography (EMG). A positive correlation between EMG findings and cTnT levels would indicate that cTnT is a biomarker for LMN involvement in ALS. This observational cohort study was conducted on a tertiary referral centre for neuromuscular diseases in Stockholm, Sweden. Consecutive patients with ALS were included. EMG was performed during diagnostic work-up, and high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT), plasma creatine kinase (CK), and serum neurofilament light (NfL) were analysed within 6 months of the EMG. King's stage and score on the Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) closest to hs-cTnT sampling were noted. In total, 50 ALS patients diagnosed between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2018 were included and followed until death, invasive ventilation, or the 14 August 2024. Hs-cTnT correlated positively with the number of muscular regions involved (<i>τ</i> = 0.283, <i>P</i> = 0.009) and percentage of muscles involved on EMG (ρ = 0.367, <i>P</i> = 0.009). Hs-cTnT was associated with the percentage of muscles involved in EMG in the adjusted linear regression. Patients with higher hs-cTnT had more advanced King's stage, both when numerical hs-cTnT and subgrouping high (≥15 nanogram/L) versus normal hs-cTnT was used (τ = 0.253, <i>P</i> = 0.021 and <i>U</i> = 197.5, <i>P</i> = 0.022, respectively). Hs-cTnT was neither correlated to ALSFRS-R total score (ρ = -0.176, <i>P</i> = 0.220 and U = 249.5, <i>P</i> = 0.233, respectively) nor ALSFRS-R excluding respiratory domain score (<i>ρ</i> = -0.069, <i>P</i> = 0.632 and <i>U</i> = 280.5, <i>P</i> = 0.558, respectively). High versus normal hs-cTnT did not predict survival (univariate analysis, HR = 1.824, <i>P</i> = 0.060). Numerical hs-cTnT was associated with shorter survival (univariate analysis, HR = 1.635, <i>P</i> = 0.017) but not after adjusting for age at diagnosis (HR = 1.413, <i>P</i> = 0.105). This study illustrates that ALS patients with higher hs-cTnT have more spread disease as evidenced by the positive correlation between hs-cTnT and both EMG and King's stage. This is not true for established biomarkers of muscle damage (CK) and neuroaxonal damage (NfL). These findings need to be confirmed in larger studies but suggest that hs-cTnT is a biomarker of LMN involvement in patients with ALS and could be used in clinical trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf177"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12082033/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144096256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity: insights from lesion-symptom and disconnection mapping.","authors":"Hella Thielen, Nora Tuts, Lies Welkenhuyzen, Robin Lemmens, Alain Wibail, Irene M C Huenges Wajer, Christophe Lafosse, Dante Mantini, Céline R Gillebert","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf176","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf176","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A post-injury increase in sensory sensitivity is frequently reported by acquired brain injury patients, including stroke patients. These symptoms are related to poor functional outcomes, but their underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Since stroke results in focal lesions that can easily be visualized on imaging, the lesions of stroke survivors can be used to study the neuroanatomy of post-injury sensory hypersensitivity. We used multivariate support vector regression lesion-symptom mapping and indirect structural disconnection mapping to uncover the lesion location and white matter tracts related to post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity. A total of 103 patients were included in the study, of which 47% reported post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity across different sensory modalities. The lesion-symptom and structural connectivity mapping identified the putamen, thalamus, amygdala and insula in the grey matter as well as fronto-insular tracts, and the fronto-striatal tract in the white matter as neural structures potentially involved in post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity. By examining the neuroanatomy of post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity in a large stroke sample, this study offers a significant advancement in our understanding of the neural basis of post-stroke sensory hypersensitivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf176"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12081950/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144096260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Infratentorial white matter integrity as a potential biomarker for post-stroke aphasia.","authors":"Ben Zhang, Caroline Schnakers, Kevin Xing-Long Wang, Jing Wang, Sharon Lee, Henry Millan, Melissa Howard, Emily Rosario, Zhong Sheng Zheng","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf174","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Traditionally, neuroimaging studies of post-stroke aphasia focus on supratentorial brain regions related to language function and recovery. However, stroke-induced lesions often distort these areas, posing a challenge for neuroimaging analyses aimed at identifying reliable biomarkers. This study seeks to explore alternative biomarkers in regions less affected by direct stroke damage, such as white matter regions below the tentorium, to overcome these methodological limitations. Diffusion tensor imaging was accomplished on 55 participants with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Focusing on regions below the tentorium, correlations were analysed between Western Aphasia Battery-Revised scores and average fractional anisotropy values. The volume of intersection between each participant's lesion and their left arcuate fasciculus was also analysed for correlations with Western Aphasia Battery-Revised scores as well. Linear regression analyses were then conducted using regions showing significant correlations as univariate predictors. After applying multiple comparisons corrections, we found that average fractional anisotropy in the middle cerebellar peduncle was positively correlated with aphasia quotient (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.004), spontaneous speech (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.005), auditory verbal comprehension (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.004), naming and word finding (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.005) and repetition (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.013). Average fractional anisotropy in the left inferior cerebellar peduncle positively correlated with spontaneous speech (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.018) and auditory verbal comprehension (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.018). Average fractional anisotropy in the left corticospinal tract positively correlated with aphasia quotient (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.019) and spontaneous speech (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.005). The volume of intersection between the left arcuate fasciculus and participant lesion was negatively correlated with aphasia quotient (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.014) and repetition (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; = 0.002). Through linear regression analyses, average fractional anisotropy of the middle cerebellar peduncle significantly predicted aphasia quotient and all subscores. Average fractional anisotropy of the left inferior cerebellar peduncle significantly predicted all scores except repetition. Average fractional anisotropy of the left corticospinal tract significantly predicted all scores except for auditory verbal comprehension. The volume of intersection between the left arcuate fasciculus and lesions significantly predicted all scores except for auditory verbal comprehension. These findings underscore the potential of infratentorial white matter regions as biomarkers of aphasia severity, encompassing overall and specific subdomain impairment. By shifting the focus to below the tentorium, it becomes possible to find more robust targets for further research and therapeutic interventions. This approach is not only able to sidestep analytical complications posed by cortical lesions, it also opens new doors for understanding complex cerebellar ","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf174"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12079383/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144082758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cerebrovascular co-pathology and cholinergic white matter pathways along the Lewy body continuum.","authors":"Cene Jerele, Antonios Tzortzakakis, Milan Nemy, Anna Rennie, Javier Arranz, Victor Montal, Alexandre Bejanin, Dag Aarsland, Eric Westman, Juan Fortea, Alberto Lleó, Daniel Alcolea, Milica G Kramberger, Daniel Ferreira","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf173","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf173","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dementia with Lewy bodies often presents with cholinergic degeneration and varying degrees of cerebrovascular disease. There is a lack of radiological methods for evaluating cholinergic degeneration in dementia with Lewy bodies. We investigated the potential of the Cholinergic Pathway Hyperintensities Scale (CHIPS) in identifying cerebrovascular disease-related disruptions in cholinergic white matter pathways, offering a practical and accessible method for assessing cholinergic integrity in neurodegenerative diseases. We assessed the associations of CHIPS with regional brain atrophy, Alzheimer's disease co-pathology and clinical phenotype. Additionally, we compared its diagnostic performance to that of other manual and automated evaluation methods. We included 82 individuals (41 patients in the Lewy body continuum with either probable dementia with Lewy bodies or mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies, and 41 healthy controls) from the Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration cohort. We used CHIPS to assess cholinergic white matter signal abnormalities (WMSA) on MRI, while tractography mean diffusivity provided a complementary measure of cholinergic WMSA. For global WMSA evaluation, we used the Fazekas scale and FreeSurfer. CHIPS successfully identified cerebrovascular disease-related disruptions in cholinergic white matter pathways, as evidenced by its association with tractography and global WMSA markers (<i>P</i> < 0.005 for all associations). Lewy body patients showed a significantly higher degree of WMSA in the external capsule cholinergic pathway despite no significant differences in global WMSA compared to controls. CHIPS score in the posterior external capsule and the mean diffusivity in the external capsule and cingulum exceeded the threshold for an optimal biomarker (sensitivity and specificity values above 80%) in discriminating Lewy body patients from controls. Furthermore, higher CHIPS scores, Fazekas scale and tractography mean diffusivity were associated with more pronounced frontal atrophy in Lewy body patients but not in controls. No associations were found for the four WMSA and integrity methods with the core clinical features, clinical or cognitive measures, or CSF biomarkers. In conclusion, cholinergic WMSA were more pronounced in Lewy body patients compared to healthy controls, independently of global WMSA. Our findings indicate that cerebrovascular disease-related disruptions in cholinergic white matter may be linked to frontal atrophy in Lewy body patients. Clinically, we demonstrate the potential of CHIPS to assess cholinergic WMSA using widely available MRI sequences. Our data suggest cerebrovascular disease co-pathology could drive the cholinergic degeneration in Lewy body patients, opening opportunities for therapeutic interventions targeting vascular health from mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies through manifest dementia with Lewy bodies.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf173"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12086334/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144103290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Differential modulation of neural oscillations in perception-action links in Tourette syndrome.","authors":"Astrid Prochnow, Annet Bluschke, Tina Rawish, Julia Friedrich, Yifan Hao, Christian Frings, Tobias Bäumer, Alexander Münchau, Christian Beste","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf172","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf172","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS) is a multi-faceted neuro-psychiatric disorder. While novel conceptions overcoming the criticized categorization of GTS as a movement disorder are on the rise, little is known about their neural implementation and whether there are links to known pathophysiological processes in GTS. This is the case for conceptions suggesting that aberrant perception-action processes reflect a key feature of GTS. Building on the concept that overly strong perception-action associations are pivotal to understanding GTS pathophysiology, we examined how these associations influence response inhibition and used EEG methods to examine the importance of theta, alpha and beta band activity due to their known relevance for GTS pathophysiology. In this case-control study, behavioural analyses revealed that adult patients with GTS experienced greater difficulty during motor response inhibition when perceptual features of Nogo stimuli overlapped with perceptual features of Go stimuli, indicating impaired reconfiguration of perception-action associations. Neurophysiological findings showed robust differential patterns of modulation in theta and alpha band activity between neurotypical (NT) individuals and GTS patients. Specifically, GTS patients exhibited stronger and more extended theta band modulation but weaker and more restricted alpha band modulation during overlapping Nogo trials than NT individuals. Unlike NT individuals, GTS patients did not exhibit beta band modulations necessary for dynamically handling perception-action codes. The findings highlight increased theta band modulation in GTS patients' significant stronger perception-action bindings and a lack of compensatory alpha band modulation. The robust differential modulation observed provides novel insights, emphasizing theta and alpha oscillations as key elements in GTS pathophysiology and offering potential implications for targeted cognitive-behavioural interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf172"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12070268/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144060835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sex differences in story recall decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.","authors":"Douglas Cowman, Rebecca Langhough, Hayley Olson, Kristin Basche, Leah Sanson-Miles, Davide Bruno, Bruce Hermann, Bradley T Christian, Tobey J Betthauser, Sterling C Johnson, Kimberly D Mueller","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf169","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf169","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stage II pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease is defined by the presence of increased amyloid-beta evidenced by fluid and/or imaging biomarkers, in the absence of clinical signs and symptoms. Previous research suggests that pre-clinical sex differences exist on measures of story recall, such as the Wechsler memory scale-revised logical memory test total score. However, sex differences on a composite metric of proper names from that test have not been investigated, and the relationships between sex and amyloid positivity on longitudinal logical memory measures are unclear. We examined longitudinal trajectories of total score and proper names by sex (Aim 1), and by the combination of sex and amyloid status (Aim 2). <i>N</i> = 457 Wisconsin registry for Alzheimer's prevention participants with PET Pittsburgh compound B-assessed amyloid status (+/-) were included. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine the interaction between sex and age at visit (the time variable), and sex and amyloid+/- on longitudinal total and proper name scores. Aim 1 analyses showed a main effect such that female participants, on average, scored higher than males on both total and proper name recall. The interaction between sex and age was not statistically significant, indicating that both sexes experienced a similar average rate of annual decline. Aim 2 analyses showed that amyloid positive participants, regardless of sex, showed steeper declines compared to amyloid negative, female participants (reference group). Thus, while female participants generally outperformed males on story recall measures, the impact of amyloid burden on longitudinal story recall trajectories was not significantly more pronounced in females. Results emphasize the need for further exploration into sex-specific cognitive reserve mechanisms in the context of Alzheimer's disease biomarker burden, as well as in the assessment and understanding of cognitive decline trajectories.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf169"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12086310/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144103311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Altered functional connectivity strength between structurally and functionally affected brain regions in visual snow syndrome.","authors":"Myrte Strik, Meaghan J Clough, Emma J Solly, Rebecca Glarin, Owen B White, Scott C Kolbe, Joanne Fielding","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf171","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf171","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Visual snow syndrome (VSS) is a neurological disorder that is predominantly characterized by persistent, dynamic visual disturbances, experienced across the entire visual field. Earlier research highlighted the significance of distinct brain regions, exhibiting alterations in both anatomical structure and functional characteristics. To further investigate the functional role of these regions, we examined the resting-state connectivity between these areas in individuals with VSS and the relation with VSS symptoms and oculomotor measures of visual processing. Forty patients with VSS (53% females; age = 33.2 ± 10.1 years; 22 with migraine) and 60 healthy controls (58% females; age = 32.0 ± 9.2 years) were scanned using 7 Tesla MRI system. High spatial and temporal resting-state (RS) functional (TR = 800 ms, 1.6 mm isotropic) and anatomical (MP2RAGE, 0.75 mm isotropic) images were acquired. Resting-state data were pre-processed (motion correction, temporal filtering and spatial smoothing), functional connectivity was calculated between regions of interest and compared between groups. Significant metrics were compared with VSS patients with and without migraine and correlated with oculomotor measures (prosaccade and anti-saccade latencies), number of VSS symptoms, self-rated VSS intensity and perceived disruptiveness. Compared to healthy controls, VSS patients demonstrated significantly higher connectivity between the supramarginal gyrus and lateral occipital cortex (<i>P</i> = 0.016) and fusiform (<i>P</i> = 0.007), lower connectivity between the supramarginal gyrus and pallidum (<i>P</i> = 0.032), as well as between the parahippocampal gyrus and lateral occipital cortex (<i>P</i> = 0.007), which related to higher perceived disruptiveness (<i>P</i> = 0.002, <i>r</i> = -0.489). No differences were found between VSS with and without migraine. This study revealed altered functional connectivity strength in individuals with VSS, suggesting stronger connectivity between cortical areas, particularly centred around the supramarginal gyrus, and disconnections with deep grey matter and temporal cortices, which associated with perceived disruptiveness of VSS.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf171"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12069226/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144055926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Safety and efficacy of bilateral staged focused ultrasound thalamotomy in refractory essential tremor.","authors":"Marina Campins-Romeu, Rebeca Conde-Sardón, Isabel Sastre-Bataller, Raquel Baviera-Muñoz, Mireya Losada-López, Carlos Morata-Martínez, María José Ibáñez-Juliá, José Luís León-Guijarro, Julia Pérez-García, Luis Raga-Rodríguez, Andrés M Lozano, Antonio Gutiérrez-Martín, Irene Martínez-Torres","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf168","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Essential Tremor is a common movement disorder characterized by postural and kinetic tremor, primarily affecting the upper limbs, head and voice. For patients who fail medical therapy, neurosurgical interventions such as thalamotomy have been explored. This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of bilateral staged Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound thalamotomy for the treatment of medication-refractory Essential Tremor. From January 2022 to January 2024, 20 patients who had previously undergone successful unilateral focused ultrasound thalamotomy were enrolled. The primary outcome was the change in tremor severity, using the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor at 6 months post-second side thalamotomy. Secondary outcomes included functional disability, quality of life and adverse events, particularly balance and gait impairments. Results demonstrated significant tremor reduction, with a 59.98% decrease in Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor A + B score from baseline to 6 months after the second thalamotomy. Quality of life also improved markedly, with an 84.91% reduction in disability and significant enhancement in physical and psychosocial aspects of quality of life. Adverse events were predominantly mild; with subjective gait instability and paresthaesia being the most common. Notably, no cases of severe ataxia or cognitive impairment were observed. Bilateral staged Magnetic Resonance Imaging-guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound thalamotomy is an effective and safe treatment for medication-refractory Essential Tremor, providing substantial tremor relief and improved quality of life with manageable side effects. These findings support its use as an alternative to more invasive neurosurgical procedures, especially in carefully selected patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf168"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12065003/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144046392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Highlights from the Brain Conference 2025.","authors":"Manuela Marescotti","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf143","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Our Scientific Editor reports on the highlights of the Brain Conference 2025, and announces the winner of our Early Career Researcher Award for a paper published in the journal in 2024.</p>","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf143"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12046213/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144061356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Noninvasive classification of physiological and pathological high frequency oscillations in children.","authors":"Lorenzo Fabbri, Eleonora Tamilia, Margherita A G Matarrese, Linh Tran, Saleem I Malik, Dave Shahani, Cynthia G Keator, Steven M Stufflebeam, Phillip L Pearl, M Scott Perry, Christos Papadelis","doi":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf170","DOIUrl":"10.1093/braincomms/fcaf170","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;High frequency oscillations have been extensively investigated as interictal biomarkers of epilepsy. Yet, their value is largely debated due to the presence of physiological oscillations, which complicate distinguishing between normal versus abnormal events. So far, this debate has been addressed using intracranial EEG data from patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Yet, this approach suffers from inability to record control data from healthy subjects and lack of whole brain coverage. Here, we aim to differentiate physiological from pathological high frequency oscillations using non-invasive whole brain electrophysiological recordings from children with drug-resistant epilepsy and typically developing controls. We recorded high-density EEG and magnetoencephalography data from 47 controls (median age: 11 years; 25 females) and 54 children with drug-resistant epilepsy (median age: 14 years, 33 females). We detected high frequency oscillations (in ripple frequency band) semi-automatically and localized their cortical generators through electric or magnetic source imaging. From each ripple, we extracted a set of temporal, morphological, spectral and spatial features. We then compared the features between ripples recorded from the epileptic brain (further distinguished into those from epileptogenic and non-epileptogenic regions) and those recorded from the control group (normal brain). We used these features to cross-validate a Naïve-Bayes algorithm for classifying each ripple recorded from children with epilepsy as coming from an epileptogenic region or not. We observed more high frequency oscillations on EEG than magnetoencephalography recordings (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001) both in the epilepsy and control groups. Physiological high frequency oscillations (recorded from controls) showed lower power, shorter duration and less variability (in both amplitude and duration) than those recorded from the epilepsy group (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001). Inter-channel latency of physiological ripples was longer compared to ripples from the epileptogenic regions (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.01), while it was similar to the ripples from non-epileptogenic regions (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &gt; 0.05). Ripples from epileptogenic regions showed larger extent than those from non-epileptogenic regions or from the control group (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.001). The classification model showed an accuracy of 73%, with negative and positive predictive values of 73% and 70% (&lt;i&gt;P&lt;/i&gt; &lt; 0.0001), respectively, in classifying high frequency oscillations from the drug-resistant epilepsy group (as either epileptogenic or not). Our study indicates that physiological high frequency oscillations, recorded from the healthy brain, have distinct temporal, morphological, spectral and spatial features compared to those generated by the epileptic brain. The differentiation of pathological from physiological high frequency oscillations through non-invasive full-head techniques may augment the presurgical evaluation process of children with drug-re","PeriodicalId":93915,"journal":{"name":"Brain communications","volume":"7 3","pages":"fcaf170"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12077393/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144082759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}